Following the Supreme Court’s judgement that affirmed President Bola Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election, the Federal Government has urged the citizens to be patient with its reforms.
The apex court on Thursday said Tinubu’s victory was valid and in accordance with the electoral laws.
But the apex government, in reacting to the ruling, sought patience and understanding of Nigerians on its ongoing reforms.
While addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said the reforms were necessary to build a strong and sustainable economy for Nigeria.
He explained that Tinubu had embarked on radical reforms in various sectors of the economy since he assumed office on May 29, 2023.
Idris said these reforms were freeing up resources for infrastructure and welfare programmes for Nigerians. He added that Tinubu had also launched or was set to launch several initiatives to support startups, MSMEs, farmers, students, and technical talents in Nigeria.
He further stated that Tinubu had initiated a national discourse that would promote national unity and reconciliation among Nigerians.
While calling on Nigerians to endure with the temporal pains they are going through now, the minister said, “The combined impact of these reforms, no doubt has produced pain for many of our citizens, which the President and the administration have never shied away from acknowledging these difficulties. No serious government seeks to inflict burdens on its people.
“We are very clear in explaining that these pains being felt are a short-term sacrifice to make for the kind of country that we want and that we deserve.
“In his Independence Day address to the nation, on October 1, 2023, President Tinubu said, and I quote: “Reform may be painful, but it is what greatness and the future require.
“We now carry the costs of reaching a future Nigeria where the abundance and fruits of the nation are fairly shared among all, not hoarded by a select and greedy few.
“A Nigeria where hunger, poverty, and hardship are pushed into the shadows of an ever-fading past.
“There is no joy in seeing the people of this nation shoulder burdens that should have been shed years ago. I wish today’s difficulties did not exist. But we must endure if we are to reach the good side of our future.
“My government is doing all that it can to ease the load.”
